If you've checked in with us over the last week, you may have heard that we won Creative Impact Award at the Cheshire Business Awards. So just how did we do it?

For Macclesfield Town Football Club (MTFC), 2017 has been a particularly memorable year. For only the 3rd time, the club reached the Buildbase FA Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium. As an existing sponsor, Big Brand Ideas approached MTFC with the idea to deliver a creative campaign that would take advantage of the Wembley visit and look to deliver 3 objectives:

Gain additional income through ticket sales and merchandise.

Use the increased awareness to fuel increased tickets sales for the 2016/17 season.

Inspire the next generation of fans by exposing them to the atmosphere and the excitement!

We had to create a ‘Big Idea’ – a concept big enough to create the impact needed and be used across multiple channels. We also wanted something that could be used specifically for Wembley, and also have value moving forwards.

What we did

Our recommended approach utilised creative psychology to create a ‘social norm’ – ‘We’re Going’ was an irresistible idea that suggested that anyone who wasn’t going was missing out. We used #SeeYouAtWembley to further make our point.

The creative was modern and visually striking, and featured a mix of MTFC players and real football fans from all ages, essential for us to appeal to our wider audience.

A key aspect of the "We're going..." campaign was to build on the real sense of community within Macclesfield by involving other local businesses to help spread our message:

We harnessed the expertise of local printers Spiral, and took advantage of Arighi Bianchi's large outdoor advertising space to give the campaign a spectacular launch.

We created thousands of leaflets and posters, then distributed them throughout the town centre in shops and restaurants.

We sent club mascot Roary the Lion into local schools to help raise awareness amongst the younger generation.

We created a webpage for people to enter a competition to win a signed shirt, whilst allowing MTFC to build up their database of fans.

We created a range of assets and content for MTFC to push out via their own social media channels.

The outcome

The end results are still to be fully realised, however our short-term objective was well and truly met with just over 8,000 fans making the trip and the club merchandise selling out. Season ticket sales for the 2016-7 season are already over 50% more than the previous year, suggesting that the momentum has been built for long-term success.

Rob Heys, general manager at Macclesfield Town FC, said; "We’re really pleased that Big Brand Ideas has been recognised for the excellent work it did on the ‘We’re Going’ campaign. It was a significant driving force behind the success of our Wembley ticket sales. The combination of traditional advertising and digital marketing allowed us to reach our desired audience, who subsequently provided us with fantastic support on matchday.

"It was brilliant to have the marketing expertise of Big Brand Ideas to help us to promote our FA Trophy Final match at Wembley. They came up with the ‘We're Going’ tagline which resonated with football fans across the county, and allowed us to talk to different groups, families and businesses. Their professionalism and passion for the project maximised our chances of filling our allocation.”